How to Choose a Hard Drive: Basic Settings

A hard disk or hard drive is an important part of the system unit. It stores the user's files and data. If you are thinking about how to choose a hard disk, you should know a few parameters.

Let's consider the main characteristics of the hard drive.

The first parameter, which you should pay attention to when selecting, is the volume of the device. It means the amount of space on the hard drive, that is, the amount of information recorded by the user on the hard drive. The volume of the device is measured in gigabytes, as well as terabytes, with the more it is, the better. Now it's better to buy a hard drive from a terabyte.

The second important nuance in solving the problem, how to choose a hard disk, is the interface - the basis for the interaction of all systems. Usually, the hard drive is connected to the motherboard by means of an appropriate interface. IDE was used earlier, at the moment it is obsolete. At the moment, the SATA interface is actively used , of the three presented versions, the most modern is SATA3.

When answering the question of how to choose a hard disk, it is worth mentioning about such an important moment as the spindle rotation speed. The speed of information exchange depends on this parameter. Than this indicator is higher, the better. Optimal is 7200 rpm.

Another very important parameter is the buffer memory, which is a hard drive memory, in which the data already read from it is stored, but not transferred via the connection interface. The larger the amount of memory, the more likely it is that there are important data that you do not need to search on the disk. This affects the speed of the hard drive. At the moment, the maximum memory size is 64 megabytes.

Another parameter that influences the solution of the problem, how to choose a hard disk, is the form factor. This means physical dimensions, that is, height, thickness and width. At the moment there are two form factors 2.5 and 3.5 inches. The first option is designed for use in laptops, and the second - for conventional system units. If you consider the question of how to choose a hard disk for a laptop, then it should be said that in most cases their spindle speed will be equal to 5400 rpm. But the second type of hard drives is designed for installation in conventional system units.

In terms of reliability, we can say that all manufacturing companies are approximately the same, as this is one of the main quality criteria for them. And if it's a question of how to choose a removable hard drive, then you can give preference to a series of Western Digital Caviar Green, featuring silent operation and low temperature. Hard disk cooling should be given special attention. If there is a well-blown case in front of the hard drive compartment, you can do without several additional coolers.

So, now you know not only how to choose a hard drive, but also what are the main nuances with this choice.